"It smells like pumpkin," James said one morning.

"It's All Hallows Eve," Hermione responded. "I suspect the elves will be making a feast."

"Elves?"

"Tell you later."

They went through classes and wound up in charms where they were learning levitation charms. After a quite brilliant performance with Ron's rat, everyone was quite anxious.

Hermione had the unfortunate experience of being seated next to Ronald Weasley. Even though Draco was on her other side.

"Stop." She said the word in a commanding tone.

"Why? I'm not doing anything wrong."

James and Draco rolled their eyes at that comment.

"You're going to take someone's eye out if you don't stop waving your wand around erratically. And you've put the emphasis on the wrong syllable. It's supposed to be on the third not the fourth."

Ronald's ears turned red. "You do it then if you're so smart," he huffed.

Hermione complied and had her feather float around and dance around Ron's head. She had possibly a bit too much fun. When they were let out of class she could hear Ron complaining to one of the other Gryffindors that Hermione was insufferable.

"Gad we don't have to share a dorm with someone who clearly lacks a brain," Draco said.

"Or a common room," Theo added.

"I'm glad we don't have to watch him eat," Daphne said. "The way the Gryffindor girls talk, it's got to be something spectacularly awful."

Hermione stopped and shuddered. "That was cruel. I don't ever want to even have to think about that again."

"Agreed," Blaise said. "I should have expected that his parents would have raised a son with at least a modicum of decorum."

"We know you have a brain Blaise," James joked. "We were talking about Weasley."

"Good one," Theo said. "I didn't know you were snarky."

Hermione and Draco shared a look. The rest of their classmates didn't know just how snarky James could be during practice. But they didn't mind him sharing that knowledge with everyone.

They were all joking and laughing before heading off to do homework.

"I'm exhausted," Hermione declared as she flopped back onto one of the couches.

"Aren't we all?" Draco asked. "Finished your homework though next week yet?"

"No. You?"

"Not even close."

"Guess we really will have to wait for exams to figure out where we stand," Draco said.

"Too bad I'm going to trounce you."

"Will you just put the homework away so we can go to the feast?" Theo asked.

"I suppose so," James said. "I was just done myself. But those two lumps might need a bit more convincing."

"Hey," Hermione said. But she knew James didn't mean it. She had already picked herself and her homework up off the couch and was headed to put them away.

They all headed up to the feast together. It was good food, good company, and everyone seemed to be happy. That was until Professor Quirrell ran in screaming about a troll in the dungeons. There seemed to be quite a bit of panicking happening everywhere.

"Troll in the dungeon," was all they heard.

There was panic all around. People screamed. Somehow most of the Slytherins looked concerned, but not scared.

"What are we going to do?" Daphne asked.

"Wait for Snape to tell us what to do," Draco said. "We definitely won't be going near a troll."

The rest of the first years shuddered. They didn't know much, but they were smart enough to know that they weren't ready to even think about taking on a challenge like that. Several years, and lots of practice was in order before they would be ready.

They listened to Dumbledore tell the prefects to lead their houses to their common rooms. The Slytherins remained seated, waiting better instructions. They weren't about to go to the dungeons, where their common room was, without a teacher with them.

"Come on," Flint said to the first years.

"Where are we going?" Theo asked.

"There's a special spot for us near the hospital wing. Just in case something like this ever happens again. Now stay as a group," Gemma Farley said.

"No questions there," Pansy said.

They hurried along. Eventually everyone made it to their space. They sat down, doing their best to stay calm.

"Just how safe are we?" Greg asked.

"Very," Hermione assured him. "Madame Pomfrey is just down the hall. And I doubt the troll could make it five floors up."

"Trolls are very stupid," Draco added.

"Just how did one make it into the castle?" Blaise asked.

"We'll ask Snape after we get to go to our dorm," Vincent said. "He'll know. Snape knows everything."

Hermione and Draco weren't quite sure that Snape knew everything. Everything there was to know about potions, yes. Everything in general, not so much. But they weren't about to correct Vincent.

Eventually they were led down to the dungeon. They were all exhausted and much too nervous to ask what had happened to the troll. And by the time they were there, they all just headed to bed. It was a long holiday. And they were just glad it was over.